FR2798498A1 - MONETARY TRANSFER METHOD, ESPECIALLY ELECTRONIC FUNDRAISING - Google Patents

Abstract

A summary transaction based on the history of previous financial transactions is executed with a portable object such as a microcircuit card (10). A summary transaction comprises the following steps: a) searching, on the basis of stored information, for the limit from which the transactions carried out are after the last summary transaction; b) searching, in a history, for the various transactions carried out since the last summary transaction found in step a; c) by means including a server (TEPT, CAR) connected to the terminal (12, 14; 16), calculation of the amount of a new summary transaction; d) issuance of a monetary transfer order for the benefit of a third party recipient; and e) updating said stored information. Very advantageously, the identification of the new summary transaction is in the form of a marker, entered in a zone whose format is that of a financial memory zone, with a date field containing the date of the current summary transaction and a value field financial, the financial value field containing a non-financially significant value, including a zero value.

Description

<Desc / Clms Page number 1>

The invention relates to monetary transfers, in particular electronic fundraising. It is a question of executing with a portable object such as a microcircuit card or "smart card" a transaction (which will be called "summary transaction" ) operating this fundraising, using parameters based on the history of previous financial transactions carried out with this same smart card.

One possible application that will be explained in detail, but which is not, however, limiting in nature, is fundraising for charitable or humanitarian organizations.

Automating the fundraising process can be a significant step forward to motivate active or potential donors, and also for greater fundraising efficiency by charities.

Such a process has been proposed in particular in French application 98 03424 of March 20, 1998 in the name of Roland Moreno, for "process and system for electronic fundraising". The present invention aims to propose specific implementations of such a method, in particular allowing its use with pre-existing smart cards already in circulation, thus authorizing rapid generalization of the method.

To this end, the method of the invention is characterized by the following steps: a) search, from stored information, for the limit from which the transactions carried out with the card are subsequent to the date of the last summary transaction previously operated with the card, b) search, in a historical memory, for the various financial transactions carried out with the card since the date of the last summary transaction found in step a), c) by means including a server connected to the terminal calculating, from the data found in step b), the corresponding amount of a new summary transaction, d) issuing a money transfer order, depending on the amount calculated at step c), for the benefit of a third party recipient, and

<Desc / Clms Page number 2>

 e) updating of the information allowing the determination of the limit from which the transactions carried out with the card are subsequent to the last summary transaction.

Said stored information can in particular be of the pointer type on an address in the history, of the marker type inserted in the history, or contain the date of the last summary transaction.

Very advantageously, said stored information is of the marker type written in a memory area whose format is that of a financial memory area, with a date field containing the date of the current summary transaction and a financial value field, the financial value containing a non-financially significant value, in particular a zero value.

As a variant or in addition, this identification of the new summary transaction can be stored in a memory of the card or of a remote telematic site.

The historical memory explored in step b) can be a memory of the card, or else a memory of a remote telematic site. The method can also include a preliminary initialization step comprising the recording of rules for calculating the amount of the summary transaction, in a memory of the card or in a memory of a remote telematic site at the same time as an identifier of the card holder, which can in particular consist of his name, his postal address and his credit card details
0 Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the detailed description below of examples of implementation, with reference to the single appended figure which is a synoptic representation of the various elements of the system involved in the implementation of the process of the invention.

 0 The invention is based on the use of smart cards of the ban card type.

<Desc / Clms Page number 3>

 Cairo. As will be understood on reading the description, these cards can advantageously be pre-existing bank cards, without it being necessary to take into account the application of the invention or when designing the card operating software. , nor during the initial personalization (that made by the banks) of these same cards. Such a card is used in a conventional manner with TPE (Electronic Payment Terminals) or with TAD (Remote Payment Terminals) to operate transactions. corresponding to the payment of a purchase or the provision of services.

The history of successive financial transactions is, conventionally, stored in the card (internal memory) and / or by a remote site, for example the bank which issued the card (external memory). The object of the present invention is to propose a process allowing the card holder to make a donation to a charitable organization, this donation being a function of the history of the various financial transactions executed with the card, on the basis of rules chosen and accepted by the donor, at his initiative and when he decides to do so - materializing the voluntary and motivated nature of the donation.

This donation can be for example a percentage of the amount of each financial transaction operated with the card (for example 1% of the amount of each transaction), or a fixed amount (for example 1 franc for each transaction), or any other calculation rule .

Therefore, it is essential to recapitulate the successive financial transactions carried out with the card, in particular those which have been carried out since the last donation.

To do this, it is necessary to store in an appropriate location (in the card and / or in a remote server) information making it possible to determine the transactions subsequent to the date of the last donation made, to take this data into account for each transaction of donation, then update this information once the donation transaction is complete.

When the information is entered in the card, and the card internally stores a transaction history, the information making it possible to identify the transaction relating to the last donation can be very advantageously presented in the form, which one will call "marker", with a simple

<Desc / Clms Page number 4>

 section of the history of financial transactions Indeed, each of these sections includes a date field and an amount field, for the memorization of the marker, it suffices to write in the date field the date on which the donation (i.e. the current date when entering this data) and in the amount field, a value that is not significant from a financial point of view.

By "value not significant from a financial point of view", we mean a value that cannot be recognized by the means of reading the history (such as those found in all TPE) as representative of a transaction real. Such an amount that is not financially significant is typically a "zero" amount, because for a zero amount there could not have been a transaction; on the other hand, this "zero" value has the advantage, in particular when accumulating transaction amounts to see if an expenditure ceiling is not exceeded, of not interfering with this cumulation since the sum of the amounts will not be modified by the zero amount of the added item.

The "zero" amount will therefore not interfere with the operation of a traditional EPT when executing a financial transaction; however, it can be recognized by a specific or specifically adapted terminal (see below), the current bank card history area being freely accessible for reading once the confidential code ("PIN") of the card holder presented to it. This section will then be recognized as constituting the marker sought, and interpreted and treated as such.

We will now describe implementations of the invention, with reference to the attached single figure. In this figure, the exchanges of information between the different blocks which are already implemented in conventional electronic payment transactions have been represented by the links in solid lines, while the exchanges specific to the implementation of the invention were by the dashed lines.

In this figure, the donor D, who has a bank card 10 for the execution, in itself conventional, of financial transactions with VSEs (not shown), can also use this in conjunction with a payment machine. personalization 12 (for example a microcomputer or a videotex terminal cooperating with a smart card reader 14) and / or

<Desc / Clms Page number 5>

 with a “donation terminal” 16, which can be a specific terminal or else a terminal produced from a standard TAD or TPE possibly adapted for the implementation of the invention, or even integrated into a standard terminal such a payphone (or parking meter, bank terminal, etc.) also suitable for implementing the invention Terminals 12 and 16 cooperate with the CAR server of a cantonal organization or of a group of charitable organizations , with the TEPT server of a telepayment management body linked itself to an AUT authorization server and to a BAN bank server.

We will now describe two possible implementations, with and without writing to the card during the execution of the summary transaction (donation transaction).

 Implementation with writing in the card In this implementation, the card requires initialization, carried out for example by the personalization machine 12,14.

The machine first asks the donor D to provide his confidential code so that the operation can be carried out with the desired security and confidentiality.

The personalization machine acquires, by input (link 18) and by reading the card 10, the information relating to the bearer, his bank references and his wishes for donation, such as the percentage or the quantum of the donation (for example " 1% of each expense "or" 1 franc for each expense "). The choice of one or more recipient organizations can also be proposed. These data are entered in the card via the reader 14.

If the donor wishes a receipt to be sent to him for each donation, he introduces (link 18) his name and address for transmission to the CAR server of the charity (link 20).

If the user does not want previous bank transactions to be taken into account during the next donation, the information making it possible to determine the transactions subsequent to the date of the last donation is updated as if the user had just made a donation. This update con-

<Desc / Clms Page number 6>

 is to write a marker including the current date and a zero amount in the transaction history When the card holder, having made a certain number of purchases, wants to make the donation to the charity, he introduces his card 10 in a terminal provided for this purpose, for example a payphone 16 configured appropriately.

The payphone then asks the bearer (donor) to type in their confidential code and has it checked by card.

If the cardholder indicates his willingness to make a donation, for example by typing a particular telephone number, the CAR server is called and examines whether the card has been previously initialized as indicated above. If this is the case, the system examines the history of transactions carried out, in particular since the last donation, calculates the amount of the donation on the basis of the rules set by the donor and proposes to the latter the amount found, for example on a display .

If the donor agrees to make the donation on the basis of this amount, the public phone 16 then connects to the TEPT server to be credited and operates a bank transaction of the amount of the donation, the association server operating in the same way than a "merchant server" of an electronic telepayment system, in association with a TEPT telepayment manager, itself under the responsibility of the BAN bank.

The donation having been thus concretized, to leave an identification of the latter in the card, the system then enters in the history of transactions in the memory of the card a "marker" transaction, close to the donation transaction (just before or just after) including a zero amount and possibly the current date.

If the transaction has been successful and the address of the donor is known, the CAR server of the charity issues a receipt for the donation and sends this receipt (link 22) to the donor D.

 Implementation without writing in the card The personalization machine, reduced here to a simple terminal 12 (the card reader 14 is no longer necessary) carried out the initial entry of the name,

<Desc / Clms Page number 7>

 the address, bank references and rules for calculating donations from the card holder (who does not need to present it), this information being transmitted (link 20) to the CAR server of the association to be kept When the donation is made, the card holder enters it into the public phone 16, which asks him to type in his confidential code and has it verified by the card.

If the bearer shows his willingness to make a donation, for example by typing a special telephone number, the public phone then reads the transaction history in the card and connects to the CAR server of the association to be credited so that the latter realizes a transaction whose amount will be determined based on the history read in the card On the CAR server side, if it has been personalized for the donor who connects to it, the amount of the donation is calculated based on the history of transactions received from the public phone, the date of the last donation (memorized by the CAR server) and the rules for calculating the donation expressed at the time of initialization and also memorized by the CAR server; if this information is not complete, the server will invite the card holder to enter the value of the donation.

The transaction is then carried out conventionally, as indicated above, and if the transaction is successful and the address of the donor is available, a receipt will be sent to him as previously. In a variant, the bearer can decide for the first time to credit a charity of only part of the amount calculated since the initialization of the card During the next donation, the system can then take into account the cumulative amount of transactions since the initialization to propose a new amount of donation according to the established rules, minus the amount of the donation already made. To make this calculation, it may be advantageous to distinguish between donations on the one hand, identified by a marker in the form of a transaction close to zero amount, and initialization on the other hand, identified by another marker, by example in the form of two transactions close to zero amounts.

Another specific advantage of such a specific identification of the initialization. As the memory capacity of the card reserved for history is limited, it can be deleted after a number (relatively large

<Desc / Clms Page number 8>

 bearing) of transactions, creating an anomaly in the calculation of the amount of donation proposed. Erasing the history erases the initialization, which can be used to warn the bearer of the anomaly situation.

Claims (7)

CLAIMS 1. A method of monetary transfer, in particular of electronic fundraising, in which a summary transaction is carried out with a portable object such as a microcircuit card (10) cooperating with a terminal (12, 14, 16), the parameters are a function of the history of previous financial transactions executed with this same card, process characterized in that the execution of a new summary transaction comprises the following steps: a) search, from stored information, for the limit from which the transactions carried out with the card are subsequent to the date of the last summary transaction previously carried out with the card, b) searches, in a historical memory, for the various financial transactions carried out with the card since the date of the last summary transaction found in step a), c) by means including a server (TE PT, CAR) connected to the terminal (12, 14, 16) calculation, from the data found in step b), of the corresponding amount of a new summary transaction, d) issuance of a money transfer order, function of the amount calculated in step c), for the benefit of a third party recipient, and e) updating of the information making it possible to determine the limit from which the transactions carried out with the card are subsequent to the last summary transaction. 2. The method of claim 1, in which said stored information is in marker form, written in a memory area whose format is that of a financial memory area, with a date field containing the date of the current summary transaction and a financial value field, the financial value field containing a non-financially significant value. The method of claim 2, wherein the non-financially significant value is a zero value. <Desc / Clms Page number 10> 4. The method of one of claims 1 to 3, in which said stored information is stored in a memory of the card 5 The method of one of claims 1 to 3, in which said stored information is stored in a memory a remote telematics site. 6. The method of one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the historical memory explored in step b) is a memory of the card. 7 The method of one of claims 1,2, 3 or 5, wherein the historical memory explored in step b) is a memory of a remote telematic site (CAR). 8. The method of one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a preliminary initialization step comprising the recording of rules for calculating the amount of the summary transaction. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calculation rules are stored in a memory of the card. 10. The method of claim 8, in which the calculation rules are recorded in a memory of a remote telematic site (CAR), together with an identifier of the card holder.